The Pesticide Market in Serbia

Summary The use of plant protection products (PPPs) has become a social concern regarding food safety and quality, and risks to human health and the environment. Accordingly, the agricultural microbials market is a steadily growing sector of the global agriculture industry. This paper evaluates the market of basic groups of pesticides in Serbia (namely herbicides, fungicides and insecticides), as well as other collectively presented plant protection products, with a particular emphasis on the biopesticides segment. The official data of the Serbian Plant Protection Directorate for the period 2000-2020 served as a primary source of data. The movement of PPPs and active ingredients (AIs) imports into Serbia were analyzed separately. The average values of PPP quantities imported into Serbia were computed for the period under consideration. The time series variability was evaluated using the coefficient of variation, whereas the dynamics of PPP import movements was evaluated using the rate of change. In the overall structure of the imported pesticides in Serbia, herbicides remain the dominant product type (57.0%), followed by fungicides (27.5%), insecticides (10.5%), and other PPPs (5.0%). The import of AIs for the production of herbicides claimed a share of 79.8%, whereas the share of AIs for the fungicide production approximated to 12.8% (followed by AIs for the insecticide production (6.7%) and AIs for the other groups of pesticides (0.7%). Biopesticides comprise a small share of the total crop protection market in Serbia. Bioinsecticides were found to be imported into Serbia in largest quantities (followed by biofungicides, bioacaricides, and biobactericides). No imports of bioherbicides have been recorded. According to the official data on the import of PPPs in Serbia in the period 2000–2020, it can be concluded that there is a positive growth trend, which is expected to continue in the future. Although the import of AIs shows a positive rate of change, no significant growth trends were recorded.